A Break From Peace Corps

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

It’s been a very long time since I’ve posted a blog, and the longer I leave it the more overwhelming it gets, so here goes.  I’ve got several that I started and stopped, including a very detailed one about my flights to America, but they aren’t really relevant to post so late, so this will just be a general bog about the past few months. 

Outside the Embassy for Kazakstan.  This statue is just aw

First of all, my trip home was great.  The flight out of Cameroon gave me the perfect image to remember – a long delay on the tarmac, kids just running up and down the aisles, Cameroonians laying across entire rows and every single person who went to the bathroom had their pants unbuttoned and unzipped before getting there.  The flight attendants just looked shocked.  The rest of the flights were uneventful except for the last one where I was delayed almost 11 hours. 

Unlike the White House, which I found underwhelming, the Capital Building was just as grand in person.

My trip home was amazing.  I spent a lot of time with family and friends, both from Colorado and from out of town.  I had amazing food, great beer, and a lot of fun on the holidays.   A couple of friends even took me out to dinner and an Avalanche game while I was home.  I made a trip to Washington, DC while I was there and saw a lot of friends from grad school and even a bunch of people I know from Cameroon.  I saw a lot of the city and went on some tours, but there is definitely a lot more to see.  It’s a pretty cool city; I might have to live there one day.  

Great group of RPCVs from Cameroon (and me).  I'll definitely have to go to DC more often.

I was sad to leave home, but it wasn’t too hard.  Luckily, I really like my post, my friends, and my Peace Corps experience, so I didn’t have that struggle that a lot of PCVs have with returning after a visit home.  It also helped that I was going to Ukraine on a quick trip on the way back to Cameroon. 

Not only did I get to see my sister in Denver, we hung out in DC too!

Ukraine was incredible.  First of all, I didn’t really see all the protests that were/are going on.  I didn’t stay in Kiev, the capital; I was in Kharkiv, the second-largest city.  Kharkiv is right along the border with Russia, so the majority of the people there are more sympathetic to Russia than the West.  The police immediately broke up the only protest that I saw. 

Lenin!

The friends that I was visiting were great too.  They brought me to the different churches, to great meals, and even to a bathhouse, which was an amazing time.  We rented a private room that had a table and chairs where we ate a bunch of food we brought and drank some beer, a couple of showers, a cool pool about the size of a hot tub, and a sauna.  We just kept going to the sauna for ten minutes to the pool for a quick dip, then eat and drink for a bit before the sauna again. 

Friends and counterparts.

I also went and saw where my friends work – they are in the Peace Corps there.  At one office they had a lunch for us.  My favorite thing was salo, which is basically just salted pig fat.  It’s really good.  We also kept making formal toasts, which I guess is a big thing in Ukraine.  The third toast always has to be to the women, and all the men have to stand up.  Every toast we would take a shot of vodka – I think we had 5 over a lunch in a government office.  What a great country. 

A church in Kharkiv

I definitely want to visit Ukraine again; I had an amazing time with my friends and all of the Ukrainians I met were very welcoming and nice.  The only problem was a slight security incident.  My friend was helping me buy something at the store and we were speaking in English.  When we walked away, a couple cops stopped us and asked for our passports.  I didn’t have mine on me – apparently if you are foreign they can ask you for them at any time.  They had warned me the night before, but I forgot.  When I didn’t have it, they led us a couple of blocks down the street and then down an alley, where they started rifling through my wallet.  I didn’t have any Ukrainian money, mostly just Cameroonian.  Luckily, my friend was able to get ahold of the Peace Corps Security Officer there who talked to the police and got them to let us go.  The only fine was that they took some of my Cameroonian coins, presumably for a souvenir. 

Our lunch with many toasts

On the way back to Cameroon I had a night in Vienna – not enough to really see anything, but I had a nice meal and stayed in a hostel.  Since being back in Cameroon I’ve actually had a lot of work, so that’s been nice, I’ll have to talk about that on my next post.